Just Looking For Some Encouragement

My 5th night on CPAP was not as good for me as the previous 4 nights in the sense that I was anxious and had a hard time falling to sleep. A lot of my day yesterday was devoted to looking for evidence that losing weight can cure OSA.

I am grateful for this technology that might just be saving my life and will most likely give me my energy back. But, I can not stop thinking that perhaps I am one of the people that can be cured of OSA if I get to my ideal weight/BMI.

I realize my OSA may not be cured by losing weight but I am the type that will not give up until I prove it to myself. My doctors told me I would never run again after having a short V-Tach during a stress test. I accepted the diagnosis with grief for 1 year, all the while researching my condition until I found evidence that others with my condition and no underlying health issues were at no more risk than the general population. A week after presenting this evidence to my Electrophisiologist I received a call telling me it was OK to run and keep my HR restricted to 140 BPM. This is as a precaution as they feel I am OK. Just being safe.

I have since ran 3 - 5K races this year.

So although I know I may be a hose head for the rest of my life, I haven't truly accepted it as my new norm. I have to see if I can beat this.

Just being open as this attitude has me a little down yesterday and today.

Thanks for letting me vent.

I can't really offer any encouragement from personal experience, as I am feeling pretty down today too. But I can tell you that I've been reading this board since my own diagnosis last December and I know that lots of people have benefitted greatly from the therapy and some have even said that losing weight has been able to help them get off the therapy. So maybe there is hope? On the other hand, once I got used to the therapy I actually look forward to it at night, I have associated it now with good rest and I find the air coming in to be soothing.

I respect your attitude! I am often a never-say-die type myself. Telling me I can't do something is pretty much the best way to get my brain churning about how I can do it.

Best wishes!

Sounds like you're one who WILL lose weight to see how it impacts your OSA. If you are overweight, go for it. All you have to lose is weight you didn't need to hang onto anyhow. Hopefully getting off CPAP won't be your only motivator or a disappointment could make it hard to stay motivated to keep the weight off. I just cringe when people say they are going to lose weight INSTEAD of using CPAP and see if that works. I know someone with nearly 200 pounds to lose who has taken that approach. Scares the dickens out of me for them. Doesn't seem at all to be what you are saying. Hopefully you'll get a sleep study at the end of your weight loss to confirm you are ok and come back to us and gloat. Do stay in tune over time for a possible return of symptoms because things change with age. But you (or anyone) COULD be the stuff folklore is made of around here - the elusive "cured" cpapper. Let us know how it turns out for you. Wishing you the best.

Although these aren't 100% relevent, a little light reading for you on the subject of weight loss and sleep apnea...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24082315
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24584563
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24560188

Thank you for the encouraging words folks.

Appreciate the info as well!